As I write this as the first day of a new era dawns, financial markets are in shock over the election of Donald J. Trump as the most powerful man on Earth.

It will take some time for that to sink in, because we truly do not know what Trump will do as president. Aside from a few well-worn crowd-pleasers, his campaign was never about what he’d do, it was only about stroking his own ego and harnessing the understandable anger of millions of people who feel left behind.

Anger was triumphant as politics, but anger isn’t an agenda for action. It’s not a plan. Trump promised to make America great again, but he never said how he’d do it, or even what that vague phrase meant to him.

We do know a few things: He’ll surely push back against globalization as he promised, by building a wall, deporting many immigrants who lack the right papers, and ripping up any and all trade treaties.

Will Trump — who throughout the campaign seemed bored when the discussion came around to policies — set his own agenda and take day-to-day charge of the executive branch, charting his own unique course as he did from the day he began his campaign? Or will he allow Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Paul Ryan and other Republicans to determine the details of taxes, spending and the thousands of other bits and pieces of government policy?

Trump presidential win ushers In shock, uncertainty

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Donald Trump's unpredicted and unprecedented victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election has launched the nation’s capital into a zone of uncertainty. WSJ's Gerald F. Seib discusses the political shake-up and what needs to happen next. Photo: AP

On many issues, it hardly matters who’s in charge. We know the outcome.

It’s certain that Obamacare will be repealed, that taxes will be cut massively (especially for the ultra-wealthy), that the Environmental Protection Agency will be neutered, that abortion will be outlawed, and that the Supreme Court and federal courts will be packed with ultra-conservatives for the next generation.

Here are the five biggest consequences of the election of Donald Trump:

The planet will heat up. Without the leadership and cooperation of the U.S., the global effort to keep the global temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius will fail. Trump and his Republican allies in Congress will shut down the Environmental Protection Agency and turn away from a post-carbon energy policy.

If the scientists are right, the inaction by Trump will doom the planet to significant climate change as the short window for action closes for good. The rising temperatures, rising sea levels, and the extreme weather (droughts, floods, extreme temperatures, and massive storms) will disrupt the global economy, and spark political unrest and war as fragile economies struggle to survive.

Hello, global depression. We may be able to delay the inevitable warming because Trump’s economic policies will lead to a deep and lengthy global depression. We simply won’t be spewing as much carbon into the air after Trump sets off a global trade war. Trump has vowed to raise tariffs on goods produced by countries like Mexico and China that have cheaper labor.

If he does what he’s promised, Trump’s hyperprotectionism would knock the wobbly global economy off its feet, perhaps for years. In the U.S., unemployment would soar, many businesses would fail, and millions would lose their life savings.

With the Fed handcuffed by its inability to cut interest rates very much, it would be left to the Republican Congress to act. Lower taxes will help a little, but the Republicans are sure to cut government spending as well, muting any stimulus effect. The deregulation they promise for the financial system will ensure that the next crisis won’t be too long in coming.

Millions will lose their health care. Obamacare is history. Trump and the Republicans have no plausible plan to replace it for the millions who have gained coverage, or who have kept it despite getting sick. Access will shrink, costs will rise.

Civil rights will be rolled back. Trump has made open racism, sexism and xenophobia acceptable again. The advances made by women, African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, the disabled, and the LGBTQ community will be rolled back. The only question is how far? The 1970s? The 1950s? The 1880s? The 1840s?

America won’t be great. All those manufacturing jobs aren’t coming back to small-town America, because most of them were lost to technology, not to Mexico. The mill towns will never get their mills back, because the mills are inefficient. The coal miners will never go back into the pits, because natural gas is cheaper.

The vibrant economy of Main Street — with the local banker, local department store, local cafe and local newspaper — is far in the past. In their place, we’ve got J.P. Morgan Chase, Amazon, Starbucks and Fox News. How’s he going to change that?

The angry white working class of rural and small-town America who elected Donald Trump are mourning a life that’s gone for good. There’s nothing he or anyone else can do to bring it back. We need to build the new economy that gives opportunity to everyone, not pine for a way of life that we can never go back to.

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